This chapter discusses the importance of valuing
a particular district or neighborhood as part of the process of creating more
accessible and multi-modal communities.

Description

A Sense of
Place is a general term for the recognition that
every community and landscape is unique and deserves to be treated with.
Community planning is sometimes called placemaking.

A Sense of Place means that people care
about a community or landscape, and that policy and planning decisions reflect
their concerns. When people work to improve their existing community or protect
a unique landscape feature, they are showing a Sense of Place.

A Sense
of Place means that people care about the communities and landscapes where they
live and visit.

A Sense of Place is best illustrated by
comparing it with its opposite, that is, treating communities and landscapes as
generic commodities which should be bought and sold without concern of their
non-market value, and which, if damaged, can be replaced. This is reflected in
various market behaviors. For example, when people or businesses move to a new
community because their existing neighborhood is getting run down, they are
treating “place” as a commodity. Similarly, when residents are unwilling to
support funding to rehabilitate their own community, in order to have money for
holiday trips to exotic locations, they show a lack of Sense of Place.

A Sense of Place does not preclude suburban
development or foreign holidays, however it reflects an incremental shift in
priorities in favor of existing communities and non-market values. It means,
that it may be rational for individuals and governments to forego possible
financial income for the sake of non-market values. For example, it means that
a worker may choose to give up a career advancement opportunity in order to
stay in their current community, and that public may protect traditional
landscapes, such as farming and wilderness, although it is not justified by
direct economic benefits.

A Sense of Place means that people care
about their local history, culture and community. It supports historic
preservations, community redevelopment and social interaction. A Sense of Place
has various implications for transportation policy and planning.

Increasing the Sense of Place and investing
in Placemaking tends to support the development of more accessible communities
with multi-modal transportation systems. A Sense of Place means that people
place a greater value of Community Livability. This
often involves tradeoffs between Mobility and Accessibility.
Without a Sense of Place, it makes sense to accommodate ever increasing
automobile travel, even if this degrades existing communities, with wider
roadways and an increasing portion of land devoted to parking facilities. A
Sense of Place justifies more efforts to protect and enhance existing
neighborhoods, even if that requires constraining vehicle traffic.

Walkability is
particularly important for people who have a Sense of Place. Walking provides
an opportunity for people to experience their community, and is a way for
neighbors living in a community to meet and interact. Walking is also a
critical form of local transportation, alone and in conjunction with Transit travel, which imposes minimal external costs, and
therefore protects community Livability. It increases
emphasis on the public realm, that is, spaces where people can interact,
including roads, sidewalks, parks and other public facilities. This may mean,
for example, that residents accept smaller private yards knowing that local
parks are abundant, pleasant and safe to use.

A Sense of Place places more emphasis on
brownfield reclamation and greenspace preservation (Land
Evaluation). This improves existing communities, rather than degrading
currently undeveloped lands, and by increasing development within existing
urban areas, helps support more multi-modal transportation systems, rather than
creating more automobile-dependent development at the urban fringe.

A Sense of Place means that residents
invest personally in their community, for example, spending vacation time in
their community and in nearby areas, investing their own money, and supporting
additional public investments, when necessary, to protect and improve
conditions.

One factor that deserves special
consideration is the idea of aging in place, which means that people
continue to live in their home or their community as they grow older. This is
an increasingly important planning issue in many countries as the baby boom
ages. “Place as commodity” implies that, once retired, consumers should be
happy to move to a segregated community for the elderly, but A Sense of Place
implies that there are special values to remaining in a family home and staying
in a community where they have friends and family. In recent years many
magazine articles and books have advised consumers on the architectural design
features that make a home suitable for aging in place, for example, floor plans
that accommodate wheelchair use, and appliances for people that can be used by
people who are frail. Some also include mother-in-law suites intended to
accommodate elderly relatives within a household. However, few discuss what may
one of the most important factors to consider, neighborhood walkability and the
quality of accessibility for non-drivers.

When locating a
new building or other facility, many people choose the most attractive
location available, although this usually spoils the features that made the
site attractive. They then name the new development after the landscape
features that were destroyed: “Fox Run Estates” is located where foxes no
longer run, and “Green Valley Mall” covers a valley’s farms and forests with
pavement.

As a general
planning principle, it is better to build on the most unattractive location,
because in this way the new construction improves on what currently exists.
This means rebuilding run-down buildings, and redeveloping run-down
neighborhoods.

Congress for the New Urbanism (www.cnu.org), provides a variety
of information on innovative urban design. The CNU Narrow Streets Database
(www.sonic.net/abcaia/narrow.htm)
describes more flexible zoning codes being implemented in various communities.

Cyburbia (www.cyburbia.org) is an Internet portal
site for urban planners and others interested in cities and the built
environment, maintained by the School of Architecture and Planning at the
University of Buffalo.

DTLR (2001),
Better Places to Live, U.K. Department for Transport, Local Government
and the Regions (www.planning.dtlr.gov.uk/betrplac/index.htm)
and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (www.cabe.org.uk). This report examines
attributes that underlie successful residential environments.

Andres Duany, Elizabeth
Plater-Zyberk and Jeff Speck (2000), Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and
the Decline of the American Dream, North Point Press (www.fsgbooks.com).

Living Streets (www.livingstreets.org.uk)
(previously the Pedestrians Association) campaigns for urban
redevelopment and pedestrian welfare. It provides a variety of information on
ways of making streets and urban neighborhoods more livable.

SFLCV (2003),
This View of Density Calculator, San Francisco League of Conservation
Voters (www.sflcv.org/density). This
website illustrates various land use patterns, predicts their effects on travel
behavior, and discusses various issues related to New Urbanist development.

The Smart Code (www.smartcode.org) is a
planning implementation tool based on Smart Growth principles.

Transport Geography on the Web (www.people.hofstra.edu/geotrans)
is an Internet resource to promote access to transport geography information,
including articles, maps, figures, and datatsets.

Urban Land Institute(www.uli.org)
is a professional organization for developers that provides practical
information on innovative development practices, including infill and
sustainable community planning.

Urban Renaissance Institute (www.urban-renaissance.org)
works to help cities and their regions flourish by applying innovative
market-based policies.

USEPA, Smart Growth Policy
Database, US Environmental Protection Agency (http://cfpub.epa.gov/sgpdb/browse.cfm)
provides information on dozens of policies that encourage more efficient
transportation and land use patterns, with hundreds of case studies.

This Encyclopedia is
produced by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute to help improve
understanding of Transportation Demand Management. It is an ongoing project.
Please send us your comments and suggestions for improvement.